Coutts says spying penalty has had no effect on Oracle’s preparation

Four months ago Oracle Team USA was docked five sailing practice days for what an international jury considered spying on Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge team. It also fined Oracle $15,000 to pay for the American team’s protest.

After the Oracle team christened its new 72-foot catamaran Tuesday, CEO Russell Coutts said the lost practice time in January didn’t hurt the team a bit.

“It was a ridiculous penalty, frankly,” he said. “You see how open we are with our boat.”

According to Coutts, the same jury that made the ruling “said if you design and build another boat for a competitor (as Emirates Team New Zealand did for Luna Rossa), and you sail against that same boat, then it’s not an advantage — while if we go and just look at their boat, it’s a penalty.

“That’s over. We lived with the jury’s decision. I just think it was a bizarre decision.”

Spying has always been part of the America’s Cup. Competitors routinely chase racing boats to get photos of other boats’ strategic details. In this case, the jury determined that Oracle came too close — within 200 meters — to the Italian catamaran while it was practicing on New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf in November.